Bhaskar is an MCA graduate and basically a technical guy & after completing his MCA he has worked as ASP programmer so he knows the nitty gritty of this internet domain. He saw the growth of Google very early and decided to enter in the search marketing domain and today, he is fortunate that he made his career and MavenClickZ which provides services in internet domain.

How did you get into Digital Marketing? What interested you in learning Digital Marketing?

Bhaskar: It was 2004 when Google has launched its services in full fledge and I can foresee the growth of Google in coming years and where my friend’s were emphasizing on development I was emphasizing more on search engine optimization and other search technologies and this is how I ended up in search marketing field.

What interested me is simple mathematics e.g. more and more business were coming online and we need visibility for these website and penetration of internet is growing day by day so it seemed a good opportunity to jump in this field and make a career out of it and I was fortunate that I got a chance to work Fortune 500 companies worldwide while being in this field.

According to you, what are the advantages of conventional marketing over Digital Marketing? Do you think that Digital Marketing is a threat to the future of conventional marketing?

Bhaskar: The advantage over conventional marketing is quite a few

It is 100% trackable, whether it is impression clicks or purchase we can track each and every activity of digital marketing and make an informed decision.

We can start with small budget and instant activation and see the outcome of the campaign and accordingly take it forward.

We can test our campaign ads online first and see the response of it and then go live with conventional medium.

I don’t think there is any threat to conventional medium as of now however the digital budget allocation is gonna take place in coming years for sure for Digital advertising and a combination of Digital & conventional will rule the market in coming year. Seamless integration on conventional and digital will work for advertisers.

Share about your 3 favorite Digital Marketing case studies. What did you like most about them?

According to you, what are the top 3 mistakes committed by organizations today in leveraging Digital Marketing?

Bhaskar:

Ignoring the digital marketing: They loose a huge amount of internet traffic which can be their loyal customer

Scaling the online marketing: They do just for the online sake but they forget that there are people who are searching for their services or product and ultimately scale their business

Presence on social media: Social media can be a mouth piece of their organization customer service department

Between Agency and In-house, which approach would you recommend for maximum value of Digital Marketing? Why?

Bhaskar: I believe in outsourcing the job to an agency as they are the expert and they have the hands on experience with multiple client and they keep pace with this ever changing internet domain.There are number of people who will be working on your account and implement various ideas which is not possible with one guy in house.

There are number of people who will be working on your account and implement various ideas which is not possible with one guy in house.

Which are your 3 favorite Digital Marketing Tools?

Bhaskar: When it comes to digital marketing I love following tools:

SEM Rush

Wordstream

Google Analytics

Why do you think it’s important for entrepreneurs, marketing professionals and students to learn Digital Marketing today?

Bhaskar:

For Entrepreneurs: to scale up the organization quickly in this internet arena.

For Professionals: to make a career in this ever changing market.

For Students: to keep updated with the growing internet market which has huge job potential.

What are the top 3-5 skills you look for when hiring a candidate for Digital Marketing profile?

Bhaskar: Adaptability, Collecting and Analyzing Data and Converting It Into Actionable Knowledge, Intellectual Curiosity,Comfortable With Technology,Business Acumen, Thirst for Knowledge, Bridging the Business and Technical Divide.

What is your advice for newbies, who are looking at building a career in Digital Marketing industry?

Bhaskar:

Get Hands-On Marketing Experience

Know the Lingo – (Being able to analyze marketing campaigns and understand what worked or didn’t is the key role of a digital marketer — in order to do that, you’ll need to know (and love) the industry jargon.)

Nurture Your Personal Online Presence

Dabble in Everything

Specialize in Something – (Once you have a base knowledge in each area of marketing, you’ll be better equipped to choose a more specific path of focus. Having a specialty enables you to hone your skills in that area and become an expert)

Attend Industry Meetups and Conferences

Keep a Pulse on the News

Get Technical

Perfect Your Resume

Let Curiosity and Passion Drive You

Unplug for Your Sanity (Staring at a computer screen all day long can take a toll on your body, mind and social life. Get away from that monitor and breathe for crying out loud!)

How do you stay updated on the latest trends in Digital Marketing? Which are the Digital Marketing resources (i.e. blogs/websites/apps) you visit regularly?

Bhaskar: To stay update in this industry I following site regularly:Matt Cutts Blog

Adwords Blog

Google Analytics Blog Search Engine Land Blog

Matt Cutts Blog

Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik

Share the names of 3 people you respect when it comes to Digital Marketing.

Bhaskar: While comes to following people in this industry I admire following people and have a high regard for them:

Matt Cutts

Avinash Kaushik

Steve Jobs

How do you see Digital Media evolving in future? What are the top 3 trends do you foresee for 2016?

Bhaskar:

Video ads will start dominating. Video ads are certainly nothing new, with social channels like YouTube dedicated to hosting billions of videos and advertising platforms like Facebook and Bing already offering advertisers video options. 2016 is set to be different because Google is finally getting on board with in-SERP video advertising. It’s a sign that users are becoming more accepting of video ads online, and as that trend continues, expect to see more types of video ads popping up in more unexpected places. With Google’s ownership of YouTube, the possibilities are virtually limitless.

App indexing will lead to an explosion of apps. Google has offered app indexing for a while, but as the ranking possibilities for apps become more complex, 2016 will be the year more business owners realize the online visibility advantages of a dedicated app. A mobile-optimized site works wonders for appealing to the mobile crowd, but soon, apps will begin to replace them. Apps can do everything that websites can, except in more intuitive, convenient, accessible ways. We’re still several years away from apps completely replacing websites as a medium, but 2016 will be a pivotal year in app adoption from business owner’s perspectives.

Mobile will completely dominate desktop. 2015 was a big year for mobile—not only did Google announce that mobile traffic finally overtook desktop traffic in 10 different countries, it was also the year they released the “Mobilegeddon” algorithm update to phase out sites not optimized for mobile. But apparently, you don’t have to have an optimized desktop site in addition to a mobile version—according to Google, a mobile-only site with no desktop counterpart is perfectly acceptable. This alone won’t be enough to drive down desktop traffic, but it’s clear what side of the fence Google’s on; they’re banking on desktop traffic fading away, meaning the smart money rests on mobile-focused online marketing.

Would you like to share few words about the work we are doing at Digital Vidya?

Bhaskar:

I love the way Digital Vidya is nurturing the talent in online marketing domain.We have hired few of the guy’s and they are worth it. Keep up the great job Cheers.